On May 7, 2019 Governor Asa Hutchinson, UCA President Houston Davis, and over 100 Sheridan, Grant County, #YJNation (Sheridan School District), and state community members and leaders came together at Oak Hill Farms to celebrate the unveiling of the Kick Start Sheridan Action Plan!
The Kick Start Sheridan Action Plan is the culmination of nine months of citizen input and planning to develop community and economic development goals based on the following areas: Downtown Development, Recreation and Things To Do, Education and Economic Development, Small Business Development and Entrepreneurship, and Infrastructure.
Sheridan’s journey began by partnering with the University of Central Arkansas (UCA) Center for Community and Economic Development (CCED) staff, University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension’s (UAEX) Dr. Mark Peterson, and Chaffee Crossing’s Lorie Robertson during the Community Development Institute (CDI) 2018 Advanced Year class. During CDI 2018, a group of professional community and economic professionals and CDI graduates assessed the city. Through their work, the city was provided with a report that became the foundation for their community wide strategic action planning effort.
Then UCA CCED and UAEX assisted Sheridan for nearly a year by holding community forums, constructing a core leadership group, and guiding the community through the Kick Start planning process. The end result of the Kick Start Sheridan initiative was the development of the strategic action plan.
You can read the plan here:
You can watch the unveiling of the Kick Start Sheridan plan here:
View photos of the event here.
Our team at UCA CCED would like to give special thanks to our supporters, partners, and UCA leadership who make this work possible every day: President Houston Davis, Chief of Staff Kelley Erstine, Associate Vice President for Outreach and Community Engagement Dr. Shaneil Ealy, Dr. Mark Peterson at University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension, Lorie Robertson at Chaffee Crossing, the CDI 2018 Advanced Year Class, and leaders of Kick Start Sheridan Mayor Joe Wise, Carrie Wise Smith, Brad McGinley, and Lauren Goins.
During CDI 2019, UCA CCED plans to work with Camden, Arkansas in southwest Arkansas.